It’s a new day and a new injury report! Going into the Week 10 match up against the New Orleans Saints, the Buffalo Bills continue to get healthy to rebuild their depth just in time to take on a suddenly resurgent Drew Brees led offense and a surprisingly stingy defense. This week’s game will truly be a test to see if the Bills is the team that started 5-2 or if they are the Bills that lost to the Jets on Thursday night.
Today’s post will deviate from a general review of the injury report due to new and unexpected information released today courtesy of Chris Brown. It has been reported that the initial knee injury that WR Zay Jones sustained in Thursday nights loss is now classified as an ankle injury. My goal is to explain why there is a change in injury designation despite the obvious original injury.
As reported before, Jones injured his knee with a rather gruesome fall to the turf last Thursday. He was able to return and play, but left towards the end of the game after re-aggravating the injury. In one of my previous articles, I detailed the possible extent of the injury severity. As there was not any additional news that came out regarding further damage, it was assumed that he merely hyperextended his knee and that he may be limited.
However, the Buffalo Bills continue to throw curveballs with Chris Brown reporting that Jones’ knee injury is actually an ankle injury. When it comes from the Buffalo Bills, I’m not going to question the source. Now, everyone must be thinking, this doesn’t make any sense. And you’re right, it doesn’t make any sense. However, as the reader, you clicked on the right article as I will determine how this could be an ankle injury despite what happened to his knee.
To clarify, Zay Jones did injure his knee in Thursday night’s loss to the Jets. That is a fact, but how severe? Apparently not that severe considering it’s not listed on the official injury report and he was able to return. As for his ankle, I have reason to believe it is a high ankle sprain. Let me explain. The knee acts as a hinge joint, but the ankle has multiple planes of motion allowing for greater mobility, but decreased stability. Upon initial viewing of the injury, there are forward and side views of the mechanism of injury which offer greater insight.
As the 14 second clip plays, at around the 4-5 second mark, Jones trips over CB Buster Skrine’s leg and steps awkwardly with his right leg. However, as he plants, all his weight is being placed through his right leg. His foot is planted directly in the turf as he begins to fall forward with his knee hyperextending. His foot is in maximal dorsiflexion and eversion which translates in plain speak to the foot is maximally bent up and turned out partially. Finally, the knee buckles backwards, Zay vaults forward, and Zay goes down in pain.
Fortunately for Zay, the knee has an ability to lock out which is known as the screw home mechanism. This allows the knee to fully straighten and stay rigid. During the process, as the knee goes into full extension, a rotational component assists in fully extending. In Zay’s instance, the screw home mechanism was forced into action with the femur (thigh bone) internally rotating with the tibia (shin bone) externally rotating. The hyperextension accentuated this mechanism, placing maximal force through the knee with the remaining excess stress left was displaced back into the ankle joint.
As seen above in the picture, during normal walking, the tibia externally rotates, placing stress through the talus and calcaneus. The calcaneus is the heel bone and this is the portion that makes contact with the ground as the foot is supinating or bearing weight as in the supination diagram. The calcaneus is turned inward and the talus is dorsiflexed and abducted or bent up and pulled outward. These are normal biomechanics of the foot, but if placed through excess stress as in the case of Zay’s injury, this can cause a high ankle sprain as the mechanism of injury is extreme external rotation and dorsiflexion, which is what I believe occurred with Zay to get him the ankle injury designation. Think of this injury as a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. As the ankle is naturally more unstable, it is more susceptible to injury which is what happened in this case.
Considering other injuries, he may have sustained a medial ankle sprain or bone contusion according to the video. It may never be fully known the extent of his injury. This injury is confusing as it is not apparent to the naked eye. The manner in which way the knee bent is the obvious part of the injury. To the untrained eye, its hard to see, but upon further evaluation, it appears this may be a likely injury.
As I do not have insider information, only insider knowledge, I can say with only so much confidence that this is what occurred. Time will tell how this injury plays out and what further information is released. He may have also injured his ankle when he left the game the 2nd time and I have not seen video to support or refute the injury. I do not believe that this is something season ending or as serious as Clay’s injury in relation to time missed. He may miss some time depending on severity and how this week’s practice plays out.
Continue to check back for new updates and further analysis of Bills injuries. For more breaking and real time updates, follow me on Twitter at @kyletrimble88. As always, thank you for reading and GO BILLS!!
Pingback: Week 10 Injury Breakdown- Saints – Banged Up Bills